‘Goodwives & Gallows’ to come to New Milford stage

 By Deborah Rose

 The Nutmeg State (Connecticut) has many claims to fame.

The first telephone exchange in the world opened in New Haven in 1877. 

The Connecticut Courant (now the Hartford Courant), launched in 1764, is allegedly the oldest American newspaper in continuous existence to the present. 

And, the first speed limit law in the U.S. was passed in Connecticut in 1901.

Connecticut can also claim to be home to the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies – well before the Salem Witch Trials.

TheatreWorks New Milford will present a limited two-weekend run of a production, “Goodwives & Gallows: Tales from the Connecticut Witchcraft Panics,” that shines a spotlight on the witch trials in the state, often referred to as the Hartford witch trials,

Oct. 4-5 and Oct. 11-12 at 8 p.m., as well as Oct. 6 and Oct. 13 at 2 p.m.

“We thought this would be a great way to kick off the fall season,” said Keli Solomon, new TheatreWorks board member and chair of its artistic committee.

The production is a combination of “Panic in Connecticut, Accused Witches Have Their Say" and "The Last Night,” performed by Virginia “Ginny” Wolf and Debra Walsh of Connecticut.

The former was written by Wolf; the latter a commissioned piece by the Stanley Whitman House in Farmington, written by Wolf and Walsh.

Solomon said the theater had a few open weekends for a limited-run production before the 2024 season ends, and she suggested bringing Wolf’s work to the stage.

The recently retired English and history teacher had attended a 2022 New Milford Public Library program that featured a representative from the Connecticut Historical Society who shared stories about the state’s witch trials, which began 30 years before the panic revved up in Salem, Mass.

That program, combined with Solomon’s attendance at one of Wolf’s productions at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, prompted her to bring this topic to the New Milford community.

A Q&A will follow each of the only matinee performances.

At least 40 people in the colony of Connecticut were tried as witches between 1642 and 1693. At least 10 of the 40 individuals accused were hanged. Most of them were women.

The Connecticut witch trials began nearly 30 years before those in Salem. However, Connecticut’s trials came to an end before those in Salem.

Wolf said she grew knowing about the Salem Witch Trials, having been born in Salem though growing up in Marblehead, Mass.

It wasn’t until she moved to Farmington and got involved with the Stanley Whitmore House that she learned that Connecticut, too, had had witch trials.

“There are so many stories and I started researching the whole history,” she said of her response after learning of the women, like Mary Barnes, who were accused and tried as a witch.

“I don’t consider myself a playwright or an historian, but I felt these women’s stories had to be told,” she said.

After writing a play about the trials, she founded Herstory Theater, LLC as a platform to share the tales of those tried – and hanged – during the Connecticut witch trials.

Herstory is a theater company dedicated to staging work that highlights women in history.

Wolf has toured, performing a one-woman show – including at schools – throughout the state.

“The Last Night” tells the story of two women, Mary Barnes and Rebecca Greensmith, who were two of the last three individuals hanged Jan. 24, 1663.

Wolf and Walsh imagine the dialogue between Barnes and Greensmith (whose husband, Nathaniel, was also hanged alongside them) the night before their deaths since there is no primary resource about the women’s exchange.

“We don’t know how these last three would have been jailed, but we imagine the women being jailed together and what the dialogue would have been,” Wolf said.

“We have them meet that night – the night before they die – and show the arc of their relationship,” the playwright explained.

This will be the first time the two shows “Panic in Connecticut” and “The Last Night” will be performed as one. “Panic is Connecticut” was reworked to make it a two-woman show for Wolf and Walsh. Originally, it was performed solely by Wolf.

“I had been toying with how to bring (the two plays) together in my head, but when Keli suggested it, I thought, ‘This is great, I’ve got some brainstorming to do,’” Wolf said, noting that’s how the title “Goodwives & Gallows” came to be.

For more information about the production, and tickets, visit https://theatreworks.us. The theater is located at 5 Brookside Ave., but parking is located behind the Catherine E. Lillis Building at 40 East St. The entrance to the theater can be accessed from the rear of the theater that faces the parking lot. Tickets are $30 for plays for adults and $25 for students. For more information, call 860-350-6863.

Courtesy of Virginia Wolf/Virginia Wolf, of Farmington, performs in her one-woman show "Panic in Connecticut, , Accused Witches Have Their Say." The play will be the first act of "Goodwives & Gallows: Tales from the Connecticut Witchcraft Panics,” a two-act production that shines a spotlight on the Connecticut witch trials, which occurred some 30 years before those in Salem, Mass. The production will be performed at New Milford's TheatreWorks in October.